Virbhadra Singh arrives in Delhi to explain bribery allegations

New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who has been accused by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), arrived in the national capital to present his version to the Congress high command, while slamming the Opposition party of indulging in malicious propaganda against him and his family.

The Himachal CM is understood to have been called in the national capital by the high command in the wake of the allegations by senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley that he had taken a ‘bribe’ from a private company for extension of a project.

He is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to explain his position in the matter at a time when Congress is seeking to take a high moral ground on the issue of corruption prodded by the Gandhi scion.

The Chief Minister's wife Prathiba Singh, who has also been accused, visited the AICC headquarters and met senior party leaders.

As he arrived in Delhi, Virbhadra insisted that he had taken no bribe and issued an eight-page statement seeking to rebut Jaitley's charges point by point.

"Frustrated BJP leaders are fabricating false stories and twisting and tampering facts to suit their convinence. They have been waging the same old issues pertaining to my income tax return and loan taken by my family, which have been replied and clarified time and again and there is nothingmaterial or new in them," Virbhadra Singh said.

In his statement, Singh alleged that the BJP leaders and their comrades-in-arm have been on a malicious propaganda against him and his family members ever since he took charge of the election campaign in his state last year and led the Congress party to victory in assembly elections.

"As the Congress party and the government in the state has started to grow from strength to strength and the wrongdoings of the previous BJP govenment especially former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his sons are getting exposed, personal attacks against me have grown in equal momentum and volume," he said.